SIXTY schools have been taken on to a new literacy programme backed by the Oxford Mail.

Every Child Writes aims to help seven to nine-year-olds boost their writing skills.

The full list of schools accepted onto the programme has been revealed by Oxfordshire County Council (see panel, below).

St Andrew’s Primary School in London Road, Headington, is one of them.

Headteacher Jude Bennett said: “We are absolutely delighted to be accepted onto the programme. Our writing results are already very good but despite that you cannot afford to lose focus on the quality of children’s writing. The whole school will be involved in it.”

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She said the new national curriculum expects children to have joined-up handwriting, use more complex grammar and sentence structure, be able to spell commonly misspelled words and have an “adventurous” vocabulary.

The Every Child Writes programme, part of a £1m education drive, will be run with guidance from staff at Lancashire’s Edge Hill University and will focus on pupils in Years 3 and 4.

Beginning in January, the two-year scheme hopes to help children’s confidence across all subjects and their engagement with the curriculum.

The council hopes the scheme will ensure at least 75 per cent of Key Stage Two children meet end-of-year expectations.

It said Every Child Writes is expected to significantly raise standards in writing for more vulnerable children, and will prioritise work with schools that are under-achieving.

For Rachael Bentovim, head of Brightwell-cum-Sotwell Primary School, near Wallingford, the scheme is a “great” opportunity.

One of her teachers, Sarah Cunniappen, said: “We have children that love to read and love to write and we want to engage that and support them.

“Writing is hugely important. We need to give children the tools to capture their creativity.”

Cabinet member for education Melinda Tilley said: “Getting a decent grounding in these skills is so important as these are the tools that enable children to engage fully at school and gain confidence right across subject areas.”

She added that the work has already begun with the Mail-backed Oxfordshire Reading Campaign, which helped Key Stage One pupils.

That scheme was launched to counter poor Key Stage 1 exam results in Oxford in 2010 – the worst in the country.

Children taking part came on in leaps and bounds, raising their reading age by 13 months after only four months on the scheme.

Mrs Tilley said: “The Oxfordshire Reading Campaign has achieved some real results in terms of raising average reading ages for children who took part, and improvements in Key Stage 1 and 2 results.

“The Oxford Mail has been instrumental in raising the profile of this work.”

 

The list of participating schools

Abbey Woods Academy, Bayards Hill Primary, Benson Church of England Primary, Bladon Primary, Brightwell-cum-Sotwell Primary, Brookside Primary, Bure Park Primary School, Caldecott Primary, Carterton Primary, Chalgrove Community Primary, Checkendon CE Primary, Chesterton CE Primary, Clifton Hampden CE Primary, Cutteslowe Primary, Deddington CE Primary, East Oxford Primary, Edith Moorhouse Primary, Eynsham Community Primary, Gateway Primary, Hagbourne CE Primary, Harwell Primary, Hill View Primary, Holy Trinity, John Hampden Primary, John Henry Newman Academy, Kidmore End CE Primary, Langford Village School, Launton CE Primary, Leafield CE Primary, Madley Brook, Manor, Marsh Baldon CE Primary, New Marston Primary, North Kidlington, Northbourne CE Primary, Orchard Fields Community Primary, Orchard Meadow Primary, Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Primary, Our Lady's Catholic Primary, Queen Emma's Primary, St Andrew’s (Oxford), St Edburg’s CE Primary, St Edmund's RC Primary, St John Fisher Catholic Primary, St John the Evangelist CE Primary, St Joseph’s Catholic Primary, St Joseph's (Thame), St Laurence CE Primary, St Leonard’s CE Primary, St Nicolas CE Primary (Abingdon), St Swithun’s CE Primary, Stonesfield Primary, Tower Hill Community Primary, Uffington CE Primary, Watchfield Primary, William Fletcher Primary, William Morris Primary, Willowcroft Primary, Witney Community Primary, Wootton-by-Woodstock CE Primary.

 


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